How severe is COVID-19?

Human coronaviruses, including COVID-19, most commonly spread from an infected person to others through:

The air by coughing and sneezing

Close personal contact, such as touching or shaking hands

Touching an object or surface with the virus on it, then touching your mouth, nose, or eyes before washing your hands

Rarely, fecal contamination with coronavirus present

What can we do as a community to help prevent the spread of illnesses like flu and coronavirus?

The DOH identifies handwashing as the best defense to any virus or illness. It is especially important to wash your hands before eating.

Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth unless your hands are clean.

Wash your hands before you eat.

If your child is sick, please keep them at home. While global attention is focused on the coronavirus, we want to remind our community that many types of Influenza are a concern this year and it's important to protect yourself and others. As a reminder, students should be kept home if they have the following symptoms: fever, cough, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea. Your student should be free of fever for 24 hours without fever lowering medication prior to returning to school. Students should also have no episodes of vomiting or diarrhea for 24 hours prior to returning to school.

If you suspect you may have been exposed to the coronavirus and are not experiencing life-threatening conditions like shortness of breath, please call your doctor’s office. Nurses and doctors will be able to advise whether you need to be seen.

What is TSD doing to proactively keep our school community as healthy as possible?

School nurses and our maintenance and operations department are in daily communication with the DOH, Public Health - Seattle and King County, and other school personnel from surrounding districts.

Students will be reminded to wash their hands throughout the school day.

In addition to their regular duties, our custodians have been directed to focus on cleaning and disinfecting common and high traffic / high touch areas which include:

door handles / emergency bars on doors

sinks

light switches

dispensers

hand railings

lunch room tables

countertops

In the event of a school closure due to a confirmed case of COVID-19, the building(s) will be sanitized and disinfected. This specialized cleaning process includes the use of an electrostatic sprayer, which sprays a disinfectant, and all surfaces are wiped down with a disinfectant.

Is the District concerned about the potential stigma associated with COVID-19?

The District is aware that erroneous information is circulating about certain races and ethnicities being more susceptible to COVID-19 than others. We want to reiterate that while COVID-19 started in China, having Chinese ancestry – or any other ancestry – does not place a person at higher risk for this illness. You can help keep our schools safe for everyone by sharing accurate information with your children and fellow community members. If your child is being bullied, harassed or excluded, please report it immediately to a teacher, counselor, or your school principal. You can find additional resources for responding to stigma at: kingcounty.gov/ncov/anti-stigma